EarthBound (SNES) Music - Photographers's ThemeOh yeah, we get our picture taken again.
Okay, now on with Peaceful Rest Valley. (Called Grateful Dead Valley in the Japanese version, changed for presumably-copyright reasons.)
Mother 2/ EarthBound - Peaceful Rest ValleyAnd right off, we run into one of the area's most brutal enemies in a map full of brutal enemies.
The Territorial Oaks can bash for not-insignificant damage. They can also use Brainshock to cause Feeling Strange status, or a vacuum attack to lower both your offense and defense a little. But no, that's not the worst part.
When defeated, the Territorial Oak bursts into flames, dealing...
More damage than you could possibly have HP for at this point, and instantly vaporizing any teddy bears you may have brought along for protection. You can still win as long as the YOU WON message comes up before the rolling HP meter hits 0, but still. Dick move, game.
Throw in Li'l UFOs (dodge most attacks, can cause Cold status), and Mobile Sprouts (summon more Mobile Sprouts, can leech away your PP with PSI Magnet), and...
Spinning Robos, which
Also cause Cold status, and the generally twisty, malignant design of the pathways through the map, and Peaceful Rest Valley is generally considered the hardest part of the game. It's not uncommon to find yourself sapped of HP from exploding trees, with a cold, and unable to heal yourself because you've had all your PP drained away.
We manage to heal our cold with PSI, though.
The only saving grace is that magic butterflies have a couple of spawn points around, so there's some limited recovery options there.
I'm honestly surprised I made it through on my first try.
The cave is full of Coil Snakes.
Plain ol' regular Coil Snakes.
Whew!